System and method for reducing service station fluid waste and to improve print throughout with spit strips

Abstract

The present invention is embodied in a system and method for implementing spit strips to reduce service station fluid waste, and to improve throughput. The printing system includes a controller, printhead assembly, and a service station assembly, operating to produce an image on a print media. The operations of the system are produced by controlling the direction of a motor. First, a portion of ink in the nozzles that have become dye enriched are determined and then the dye enriched ink is purged on available margins on a periphery of print media outside an area reserved for images.

What is claimed is:  
     
       1. A method in a printer for reducing service station ink waste, the printer having a nozzle member with a plurality of ink ejection nozzles that ejects ink across print swaths on a print media, the method, comprising: 
       determining a portion of ink in the nozzles that have become dye enriched ink;  
       purging the dye enriched ink on available margins on a periphery of print media outside an area where image data is printed; and  
       instructing the nozzle member to vary the width of traversal across certain predefined print swaths when printing the ink.  
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein purging the dye enriched ink includes printing the dye enriched ink onto spit strips of the print media. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , further comprising trimming the spit strips with a spit strip trimmer during feeding of the print media of a print cycle. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising traversing the nozzle member along a carriage connected to the nozzle member. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising providing perforations between margins of the print media and a printable image area. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising eliminating use of a spittoon in the printer. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising decreasing the quantity of aerosol accumulation of ink on the printer. 
     
     
       8. A printing system receiving input data for printing images on print media, comprising: 
       a nozzle member for ejecting ink;  
       a service station coupled to the nozzle member, which is used to purge dye enriched ink on available margins on a periphery of the print media outside an area where images are printed; and  
       a controller that instructs the nozzle member to traverse various widths in various swaths.  
     
     
       9. The printing system of  claim 8 , wherein ink is ejected onto the print media as a printed image within the margins of the print media, and the purging of the dye enriched ink includes ejecting ink on lateral margins from nozzles not currently printing the printed image. 
     
     
       10. The printing system of  claim 8 , wherein purging of the dye enriched ink includes producing spit strips. 
     
     
       11. The printing system of  claim 8 , wherein a wide swath of ink is produced by the nozzle member and ink is ejected ink into a spittoon. 
     
     
       12. The printing system of  claim 11 , wherein ink in the spittoon is sensed by ink sensors. 
     
     
       13. The printing system of  claim 12 , wherein the ink sensors relay data to an analyzer for producing ink data that affects formatting of subsequent printing sweeps of the nozzle member. 
     
     
       14. The printing system of  claim 8 , wherein a spittoon is not used by the service station. 
     
     
       15. An ink jet printhead for printing images on print media, comprising: 
       a processor coupled to a controller that provides access to first and second sets of data; and  
       a nozzle member that ejects ink for printing images based on the first set of data and for purging dye enriched ink on available margins on a periphery of the print media outside an area where images are printed based on the second set of data, and wherein a controller that instructs the nozzle member traverses various widths in various swaths.  
     
     
       16. The ink jet printhead of  claim 15 , wherein purging the dye enriched ink includes printing spit strips. 
     
     
       17. The ink jet printhead of  claim 15 , further comprising a trimmer that trims the spit strips during feeding of the print media of a print cycle. 
     
     
       18. The printhead of  claim 15 , wherein a spittoon is not used by the ink jet printhead. 
     
     
       19. The printhead of  claim 15 , wherein the first set of data includes printer driver information for printing an image instructed by a user and the second set of data includes predefined empirical parameters including the size of the spit strips and the amount of ink purged.